I drive cars from 420HP down to 148HP in the Outlander Sport.

The Sport only looks bad on paper 0-60MPH due to the CVT tranny not picking up revs early on at low MPH. Its 0-30MPH is what kills it.

However, when you are at highway speeds, 50MPH+, the CVT revs when the pedal is stomped, and the car moves quite well for the HP it has. The transmission keeps the engine right inside the powerband. It will surprise you with passing ability. Keep in mind the weight of the Sport, at only ~3300LBS with AWD, is not a heavy vehicle. Try not to pack it full of passengers and you will be OK.

Trust me, I need to pass all the time, and this has no problems doing it. In the snow, I have a blast with the diffs locked, drifting turns with traction control turned off.

I have been asked twice now in 3 weeks what kind of vehicle it is, because people near me at gas stations thought it looked neat. I have not had that happen with any other common vehicles where people come up to me like that.

To each their own. I love it.

 

I have historically found myself in the position of being "satisfied" with the power output of my cars, but still "wishing" for another 25-30 horsepower. The same would be true for my Outlander. However, what I "felt" I was missing from a power standpoint wasn't enough to be a deal-breaker from an overall perspective.

With that said, and without having driven the Outlander Sport, just the usage of the word "Sport" in the name, I would expect that the vehicle would be more performance orientated than the stats on paper would suggest. At the end of the day, from just sitting in the Sport, I liked it (not surprising), but found it to be a little small for me, but probably perfect for my wife, who likes the additional ride height that the Sport has (similar to my vehicle and higher than her current one), and isn't as concerned about performance/acceleration as I am.

We'll probably check the Sport out in the next few weeks.

 

Ok, I think I might be sold on the Sport. It's a great little car and while the power doesn't compare to my GTI, it is not that far behind while running CVT. My dealership is offering free lifetime oil changes plus the warranty on this car is awesome (don't see many 5 yr warranties out there).

One thing that stinks is my dealership can't locate any, I'm assuming in the Southeast as they said my area, with the specs I want and would have to order one. Would it be cheaper to go that way or have them expand the search to more of the US?

 

I like to be able to pack it full of passengers and cargo and still haul.

BTW, what's your 420hp car?

 

Trust me, I thought about the whole HP thing with the Sport quite a bit.

In the beginning, the Sport was not even on the platter for me. I was looking at the Land Rover LR3, Infinity FX35, and Porsche Cayenne. I was very close to buying the FX35. These were used vehicles, as I was trying to keep this SUV purchase around $25,000 or so. (I am buying another 4-door car very soon here, so a 2-vehicle price limit had to be met.)

Anyways, as I drove through dealership vehicle lots on a last minute attempt to spot something out, something caught my eye. I had no idea what it was, or where it came from, but the face of the vehicle was staring me down, and I very much liked it. It was the Outlander Sport.

I find the styling of the Lancer Evolution interesting. While I do not agree with the entire flow of lines around the Evo's entire body, I do find a certain inspiration somewhere in its front end. Is it that somehow, a bit of Nissan GT-R DNA fell into that gene pool? If it did, I am glad that those genes leaked over into the Outlander Sport, because a large portion of its styling is what gravitated me towards it. In fact, I believe the word "sport" can say something about a vehicles looks--its lines and curves, its trimmed weight, and not just about its engine power.

Maybe a couple of photos will help you to understand why I feel that the Outlander Sport has a dose of sport in its looks.

GT-R



Evo X



My Outlander Sport



Okay, so maybe the Sport's lines aren't as aggressive as we would like them to be. However, I find the style it has does enough for it to surpass all other vehicles in its class (though the Mazda CX-7 is a good looker). I feel most of those good looks in the Sport come from the very front. It's that grill that I'm talking about; the mouth that looks as if it's gulping any air you can feed its way. The hood lines flowing into the nose, and streaming down into the front corners. I love it!

Even though the vehicle cannot produce horsepower to influence its name, it makes up for that with good looks. So give its engine a break, because I think you will still end up loving the car the more you drive it, and the more you look at it in your driveway.

Twin-turbo Nissan Z.

 

Anyone have any experience taking the Sport on sand? how does it fare?

 

I actually just bought a 2011 2wd Outlander Sport SE... not bad at all... I think it does fine powerwise... it's true the CVT is a bit laggy off the line but I've experienced that when I test drove the Murano too...

I see no problems with the amount of hp in this... just downshift in the paddle and instant torque... but then again... I didnt buy this to be a "red light warrior" and race around town in...

cheers...

For the OP... I was dead set for the pano roof... I'm 6'2" and actually not having the roof gave me a little more comfort headwise... so I went without it... either way dont wait... just get one! lol

 

i believed the i4 is great. the power compared to some 4wd i4 is more realistic.
the v6 outlander has only single overhead cam while the 4 cylinders has double over cam.
you rarely see this engine structure on compact SUV's.
i drove CRV,Ford and Rav4..you can just hear the engine screams while you accelerate but not on 2010 outlanders

 

To those that have this vehicle.. What are you getting for your mpg's? Anything close to sticker now?

 

We got one last week, se 4wd, great vehicle, I'm in the break -in period, getting some thing like 12.9L/100km btw city & hwy, advertised 6.6 & 8.4, i'm no where close to it???? not sure if it will improve.
Janarth